


Sprouting Wings

by Missy



Category: Galavant (TV)
Genre: Dragons, Friendship, Humor, Multi, Negotiations, Polyamory, Post-Divorce, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 09:44:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14767208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: When Madalena, Gareth and Sid arrive at Richard's palace to negotiate the terms of the post-war peace treaty, Richard learns  that the dissolution of his marriage to Madalena was less than on the up and up.  But Madalena has some surprises for him, and Tad Cooper - he might be sitting on the biggest shocker of them all.





	Sprouting Wings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesertScribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertScribe/gifts).



“Bobbie! Where in the world is Tad?” Richard rounded the corner from their privy room at full speed, the panic in his eyes making her worry for him. They’d both been under a terrible lot of stress trying to get the kingdom ready for the big unification ceremony that would unite the kingdoms into one. 

It had been a less than smooth process. Each section of the Five Kingdoms would keep their ruler of choice, who would make all of the local decisions among their people and try to use the model of democracy established in the whole of the kingdom. There had been a lot of hubbub over what the unified Valencia should be called – ValenHorZenZia? ValenTenzia? It was dizzying for a girl who’d planned for a life as a solitary maiden. Marrying into a queenship was so far outside of her normal scope of experience that she worried constantly she’d slip up. Though at least, she supposed she’d end up getting her due; she and Richard having to deal with a happy, successful democracy in their home court was another worrisome fact of their new life. She so wanted to be good to these people!

Well, at least Richard's present problem could be solved; at least this equation she had down cold. She held up Tad in her palm – the dragon was now the size of a small cat, and preened proudly as its scales shimmered in the firelight. “I was giving him a bath,” she said proudly.

“There’s my little man!” he knelt to coo over the slippery fellow, who belched smoke in Richard’s direction, his long, black tail curling around his thumb. “By Jove, Bobbie, he’s getting bigger every hour.” And it was true – only weeks before he’d fit in Richard’s palm, and now he was the size of a very large lapdog. Acted like one, too, to Richard’s coddling delight.

Roberta said, “every week, at least. I about pulled my elbow from the socket keeping him from chasing the barn rats today!”

“Tad!” scolded Richard lightly, “you know that’s the servant’s jobs!”

“It’s everyone’s job,” she pointed out. “Not just theirs anymore. We’re going to share the load just like we have been for the past six months.”

“Oh poop,” he sighed. “Well, if it will smooth the path of justice I suppose that’s fair. Though chores do give me shin splints…”

“If they do,” she said, “tell me about it. I’ll be the one to help you do the heavy lifting!”

“Speaking of heavy lifting, since we are going to be hosting Mads and Gar for a few weeks,” he said. “In the spirit of diplomacy and not throwing my ex-wife into a dungeon for trying to take over the kingdom with evil magic…”

“You did promise you’d be nice. Which you usually are, to a fault,” said Roberta. 

“And I will be nice,” he said. “But to get the castle in tip-top shape, we’re going to have to get some elbow grease going!” 

“Should I call Drippy Joe?” she asked.

“No, darling - real elbow grease!”

“Oh!” she said. “Why didn’t you say so? Well, we’ll get to work after breakfast,” she said. “This little guy has a whole goat waiting for him in his room!”

“Eat well, my little one!” said Richard as Roberta gently took one of Tad’s claws and bobbed it up and down in a parody of a wave. Her own head moved in syncopation, her expression serious; then she let out a laugh as the dragon belched a little puff of heart-shaped smoke from its nostrils. 

She scratched him under the chin as she carried him to his goaty feast. “You really are getting bigger every day,” she said. 

And when he’d stop growing – how he’d stop growing – none of them knew.

 

 

****

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“Why are we riding over this extremely primitive, dirty road to see my ridiculous ex-husband when we could be traveling by the main path?” Madalena was poised in her saddle, reins tight in her fist, but she stirred at the jostling of her mount’s stride.

“’Cause he’s my best friend, and I didn’t complain when we spent a month riding arse in the air over mountains to get you those dresses.”

“They were great dresses, to be fair!” Sid said. He’d know, of course; he’d apprenticed a tailor for a few weeks before becoming Galavant’s page. “The blue satin really does bring out the evil gleam in her eyes.”

Gareth grumbled under his breath about how they could’ve spent their time bringing gunpowder over the mountain instead, and Madalena complained that they hadn’t managed to buy any jewels that fit the dresses she’d bought. Sid continued to smile brightly, ignoring their complaints.

“Isn’t it great that the DEL turned out to be a faker with terrible aim? If he wasn’t we wouldn’t be together right now!”

Madalena tried to kill him with her eyes. Gareth complained that the guy’s brains were still stuck to the bottom of his booth.

“It makes me want to sing…” From somewhere in the distance, dramatic music began to swell.

“NO SINGING!” Madalena and Gareth shouted together.

“Fine,” Sid said, sitting up straighter in his saddle. “I’ll just hum!”

He kept humming the whole way up the path. Madalena leaned close to Gareth.

“We can always push him off the horse and run,” she said.

“Nah. That’d be too messy,” said Gareth. They traded looks and burst into laughter.

Evil could be fun sometimes.

 

 

****

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It took another two weeks for them to crawl to Richard’s ex-kingdom. By the time Madalena saw the once-glamorous castle she’d married her way into, she recoiled.

“What has he been doing to that place?” she wondered. “What happened to the poisoned whale spears I had installed at the parapets?” 

A passing merchant chimed out, “We use ‘em to entertain our babies now!”

“I didn’t miss this place,” she mumbled. “Not at all.”

“Hey, at least the beer’s great,” said Gareth. He was already trying to buy himself a tankard without dismounting from his horse.

“For a provincial town with no hopes and no upward mobility…” she trailed off when a page came to take the reins of her horse and dismounted with a sigh. Gareth took care of his own steed as Sid took his own reigns and herded the horses toward the guest stables. “They all seem so…happy.” She sneered.

“Yeah, happy. That can be a good thing, remember?” Gareth asked. 

Madalena sighed. “You know happy makes me very anxious.” Joy was bubbling on the edge of her mood, and she didn’t know how to express it so she made a loud groaning noise as if she were having a cramp.

“Something wrong with your guts?” he asked. “You got your monthly…?”

“Do not finish that sentence if you value your life,” she said. Gareth shrugged and held up his hand in surrender. “You really don’t understand why I’m upset?”

“Either it’s the going back to your old palace in defeat thing or the you’re remembering being a peasant thing. Or it’s the anniversary of the day you killed the goat. Is that today?”

She stared at him. “Have you been listening all the time when I’d tell my stories?”

“Only ‘cause you were better than the jester.” She saw the gleam in his eyes and almost squirmed her way into the mud. He took her hand and started shoving his way through the crowd, holding her by the hand. “No time to swoon now!”

“I was NOT swooning. I was…trying to show my discomfort with this…emotion thing.” She really was, after all.

“Do you think I’m any more comfortable with it? I almost rode to my doom to rescue ya from a balloon salesman!” 

“MUST you mention the DEL’s true origin?” She huffed. “He seemed completely on the up and up when I was sent to him.” 

“By a wedding planner!” Gareth reminded her.

They were standing on the gangway then, and almost directly bumped into Roberta and Richard as they were shoved along by the ‘help’ of the palace guards.

“Rich!” boomed Gareth, throwing his arms around his old best friend and trying to bear-hug him to death. 

“My ribs are sinking into my toes!” Richard gasped.

“Roberta,” Madalena said, extending her hand for a kiss. Instead it was shaken vigorously enough to make her diadem rattle against her skull.

“Mads! How was the trip?” 

“Loud and filled with angry sheep,” Madalena said.

“Huh. Not the answer I was expecting,” said Roberta. “Where did you leave Sid?”

“He’s taking care of the horses. But enough about him, when do the negotiations begin?”

“Tomorrow, you haven’t missed a thing.”

“Wonderful. Since you and Rich were married so quickly I never did have time to really talk about our little divorce settlement…”

“I…don’t think this is the time to talk about it.”

“….At the very least I was hoping for a couple of necklaces that might work with my new dresses!” Madalena said.

“Why not? And you can have all the flowers in the moat!” Richard called. 

“No fighting, please!” Roberta ushered Madalena across the bailey and then watched Richard and Gareth follow. Once they were all safe inside, Madalena headed to her personal quarters, where she settled – and locked Gareth out for the afternoon.

 

 

****

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“I don’t understand these dames, Rich.”

Richard made a slight sound of noncommittal confusion. “Women are wonderful and easy to understand, Gar! You just need to look them in the eyes, respect their wishes, and get out of the way when they’re coming at you with a sword at full speed!”

Gareth propped his feet up on the banquet table and grunted. “Madalena is…well you know, she’s a piece of work and one I don’t mind lookin’ at. But ever since I found her leaving that balloon salesman’s mansion things have been weird. She doesn’t wanna go back to what we were but she don’t want to take the next step and let me set her up for life.”

Richard gasped. “Gareth! Are you planning on making an honest woman of her?” 

“Maybe,” Gareth admitted. “But don’t go telling her nothing! I’m still in the choosing stages. Don’t wanna scare her off. It’s hard enough to get her to sit down and talk about love when she’s always getting all melty-kneed when I talk about it.”

“Melty-kneed?! Madalena!? Are you sure we’re talking about the same woman?”

“Well…more like she starts looking for the next exit. What the hell am I gonna do about it?”

“You could try to be smooth!” Richard said.

“Like you with Roberta?” Seconds after he finished asking that question, a roaring sound filled the air. “What the bloody hell was that?”

Richard grinned. “It’s not a what, it’s a who – and that who is Tad Cooper!”

“Your little lizard made that sound?”

“He always does when it’s time for his afternoon walkies. Want to go see him?”

Gareth shrugged. A few minutes after that, they were walking toward a very large fenced-in area near the stabled. He could make out something shadowy darting between the large pine logs but didn’t see what the thing was until Richard unlocked the paddock and a horse-sized black dragon emerged, flapping its wings. 

Richard made a clucking sound with his tongue. “Did you have a good walkie my boy? Is it time for your water and afternoon nappies? Who’s a good boy?” he wondered out loud.

“Ugh, can you can it with the cutesy chatter? You’re turning my stomach,” complained Gareth. 

Richard looked up, frowning, still patting the dragon’s scaly, damp head. “But he likes it when I talk sweet to him! In fact, I think it’s promoting healthy wing growth.”

“Ugh, just do it when I’m downwind,” said Gareth. Tad Cooper narrowed his eyes at Gareth, and a tiny streak of anxiety licked down his spine. A very tiny one – one he’d never admit to! But one nonetheless. 

Gareth reeled back from the dragon, avoiding a curl of smoke. The lizard seemed to be staring at him with undisguised curiosity. “THAT is Tad Cooper?” he asked.

Richard cooed, petting the dragon, who inclined his head toward his touch. “The one and only! Told you my boy was getting bigger every day!”

“But he was the size of your hand the last time I saw him! That was only a few months ago!”

“Well, my boy seems to be a bit of a grower,” said Richard, shrugging his shoulders. All Gareth could do was stare at the dragon and be prepared for any sudden moves, but it made none, content to be petted by Richard for the next few minutes.

“Guards!” he called cheerfully. “It’s time for his afternoon snack.”

Gareth raised his eyebrow as the sound of loud, piercing mooing filled the air, and a peasant shoved two whole cows into the pen. Tad noted them with disinterest, more into getting his head petted than anything else. Gareth let out a curious, “Rich?”

“Well, my boy’s also quite an eater.” Richard stood back and watched proudly. “Roberta thinks he’s going to be five feet long when he stops growing.

“Hot damn.”

“The hottest of damns!” said Richard cheerfully. “Want to watch his afternoon feeding?”

Gareth shrugged. The peasants loaded a cow into the pen and watched as Tad entered the pen behind them.

As their faces were lit by the glow of flames and the air filled with the sound of panicked mooing, Richard’s expression turned almost fatherly. “He’s the best boy,” Richard declared, as Gareth watched in quiet, impressed silence.

 

 

****

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“So, is this where you do your…Roberta thing.” Madalena glanced around the queen’s chamber, draining her fourth cup of wine and watching as Roberta bustled around showing her all of the little changes she and Richard had made to the place since her exile. 

God. The very thought of it made her want more booze.

“It’s the great room,” Roberta said. “I hold weekly meetings with the Women’s Head of Peasant Relations, the Ladies’ Union for Workers and Plague Victims, the Charity Fund for the People’s Swine Flu and Anti-Temperance…”

Madalena blinked at her. “Roberta, sweetie – has anyone told you yet that you’re a princess? You don’t have to do these…disgusting things.”

“They aren’t disgusting! A princess needs to know her people, to understand them!”

“Ah yes, fraternizing with the little people. It helps so much when you’re on the losing end of the stick.”

Roberta shrugged. “Our people have never let us down. I think that’s your problem – you’re waiting for people to worship you instead of trying to show them common decency and respect.”

“Respect?” The idea made Madalena laugh. “Respect is the last thing I want. I used to want fear and power and…well, magic. But I don’t have any of those things anymore. So now I have to watch you use my footstool and try to play nice with my ex-husband in the hope of getting a little, tiny crumb of residual power from him."

They both jumped when a knock sounded at the side of the door. “Bunnykins!” sang Richard. “Dinner’s ready!”

“Coming!” they said in unison, then rushed for the door at the same time. Stuck shoulder-to-shoulder there, they were temporarily jammed there until Richard reached in and tugged them free, quickly and firmly.

“And you told me to behave!” Richard said, earning the foulest glare from his wife.

He gulped, and hoped dinner would go smoothly.

 

 

****

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“This is a social disaster, “whispered Roberta to Richard. The meal had passed with stony silence beyond Sid’s happy and animated chattering; he considered it his duty to keep morale up among the whole lot of them, silence be damned. He’d managed to loop the jester into his joking antics, which didn’t meet with Madalena’s approval, naturally.

Madalena and Gareth kept glancing at one another stonily as the night went on, occasionally shoving at one another. Madalena refused to speak with Roberta and ignored Richard. Richard and Gareth were the only two people on speaking terms with each other.

“I think it’s fine! And Sid and Jester are doing a great job trying to get everyone talking!”

“What’s your favorite food, Richard?” Sid called.

“Roast boar!” he called back.

“I can make a song out of that,” Sid said.

In the distance, thunder boomed, causing everyone to jump in alarm. 

“I didn’t think it was supposed to rain today,” said Roberta.

“It was very cloudy when we came in,” said Sid.

“Sounds ready to blow the house in,” said Richard, and he leaned into Roberta’s side. She ran her fingers gently through his hair and hummed in response. “Is Tad Cooper safe?”

“He should be in his pen with the horses. Hopefully not together,” Roberta said. She didn’t want to remember what happened the last time they’d accidentally left the dragon alone with something soft and cuddly.

“I think I’ll go check on them…” He got up to do so, but the doors of their private chamber suddenly blew open with an enormous clatter, extinguishing some of the candles on the table.

“Stop babying that thing!” said Madalena. “If you keep pampering it it’s never going to figure out how to hunt for itself. And an animal that size that can’t hunt for itself is a burden on society.”

“My Tad isn’t a burden!” Richard said. “He needs tender care. You wouldn’t be able to recognize tender care when you see it, would you?”

Madalena scoffed. “Kindness is for poor people,” she declared. “And tenderness is for people with no…imagination.” Gareth grinned so widely that Roberta started at him in response. But there was something more interesting going on in Sid’s face. She’d have to corner him and ask him what was going on later. But she did have an immediate answer for Madalena.

“After all this time it’s still the money,” Roberta sighed.

“Of course. What else is there?”

Richard got up from his bench and – with surprising dignity and with a kingly manner – dug underneath the royal throne. The clatter that rose up from the area was astonishingly loud; even Roberta cringed at the noise. But Richard didn’t spend a lot of time dilly dallying around. From beneath the furniture he pulled three emerald necklaces, several heavy rings and a diadem encrusted with diamonds, and handed them to her. “I think these should cheer you up a smidge. Consider them a present of divorcement.”

Madalena cried out embraced the stones to her bodice. “They’re gorgeous!” she said. “Look, Gareth, they’re hand-cut!”

“The only kinda hand-cut things I like are French fries!” scoffed Gareth. Then he noticed how bright and shiny the stones were. “Put those away, Mads, you’re gonna drop them in the soup.”

‘I don’t care,” she said. “I’ll lick them clean if I have to!”

Gareth chuckled. “Boy that brings back some memories.”

“I’m afraid to ask what sort of memories those are,” said Roberta flatly.

“Ask Rich,” he said obliquely, which only made her raise an eyebrow and stare at her husband.

“I do like my gravy fresh off the bib!” said Richard innocently. Well. Not the response she was expecting.

But Gareth was watching Madalena now – really watching her. It was with the sort of soppy expression that Roberta was fairly sure she used whenever she looked at Richard, to her own fond dismay. His words, naturally, were not gentle at all. “She’s never gonna shut her gob about this,” he said to Richard.

“And you’ll listen to me talk about them,” she said. Placing the emeralds beside the lobes of his ears, she added, “Maybe I’ll go ahead and turn these into earrings. Bet you’d like that.”

He pushed away her hands more gently than he might normally do. “I’d look like a bloody fool!” said Gareth.

“Gareth! You could never look like a fool!” said Sid, which such vehemence that entire room was brought to a stand-still.

Roberta turned to look at Sid, but gasped. To her amazement, the cause of the disturbance in the doorway was quite a familiar one. 

“Father Millstone!” Roberta swept the older man into the room, making a place for him at the table. “We haven’t seen you since the battle! How have you been? Is the storm terribly heavy?”

“Well, and heavy enough,” he said. “I have some grave news for both you and the king,” he said.

“You should have some tea first – Sid! Gwen! Bring him a footstool and a towel!” Roberta felt relief as they went to do her bidding – it seemed that in light of any emergency people did obey her as the mistress of the house. She maneuvered the priest until he was sitting in Richard’s large chair, then rousted up a warm drink of mead with Vincenzo’s help and had a heavy blanket draped across the priest’s lap. 

“Thank you, child,” said Father Millstone. “I’m afraid you might retract your charity as soon as you hear my tale.”

“What is it?”

“I was on my way to Rome to file your certificates with the Pope. Along the way, I stopped at an inn and found myself reading the record of matter. Quite a ripping story, by the way.”

“Thank you,” beamed Richard. 

“And when I gave it a closer look I noted something. Richard, you said that Madalena divorced you in absentia by attempting to have you executed?”

“That would be a yes,” said Madalena.

The priest nodded. “And there wasn’t any legal intervention? No dispensation from the monks or the Pope of Unsmiling Decrees or any such figures?”

Richard shook his head. Madalena shrugged. “I was going to be a widow, not a nun.”

Father Millstone shook his head sadly. “It’s just what I feared. Without dispensation, without any legal decrees…oh my. It’s all grim.”

“For pity’s sake, Padre, spit it out!” Richard said. “The cold is making you a bit daft!”

“Did we miss some little detail, or was there a mistake made with the documents.”

“Oh no,” said the clergyman serenely, “you never signed the bonds of divorce. If you didn’t sign the bonds then you…”

“We were never divorced. Which means…” Roberta sputtered.

“We’re not legally married. We’ve been living in sin for almost a year!” Richard quivered in his boots. He looked at Madalena, who at least had the grace to look similarly shaken. 

“If you’re not legally married then I’m not legally divorced!” Madalena wrapped her arms around the suite of jewels like it was a newborn baby. “My jewels will have to go back!”

“Well,” said Father Millstone, “to look on the bright side of things, I can solve most of your problems. I’ll have a document drawn up to declare your divorces, and then marry the lot of you to your proper partners.”

“Partner. Gareth and I aren’t married,” said Madalena.

“Really? From the way you’re leaning up against him I would have sworn that you’re family,” said Father Millstone.

“This is a disaster!” Richard dithered.

“Don’t fuss overmuch,” said Roberta. “Father Millstone will draw the document up by tomorrow, and you’ll sign it and I’m sure Madalena will sign it.” She glanced over her shoulder at Madalena, who was too busy hugging her jewels while Gareth patted her shoulder and looked annoyed.

“Of course I’ll sign it!” Madalena snapped. “Do you think I want to be married to that man?”

“You don’t have to be so cruel,” Richard complained.

“Have you forgotten I’m the villain?” Madalena asked.

“Well, only technically,” Gareth said. She glared at him. “You ain’t so bad, y’know. In fact I know a few barbarians who’d think you was a lovely girl!”

“Thank you,” she said, but her tone suggested she was anything but. 

“Well, none of this is going to be solved today,” Roberta said. “Father, would you take a guest chamber?”

“Of course,” he said. “Thank you, my child, your hospitality is beyond what I could have dreamed of.”

Richard looked petrified as he settled beside Roberta, but she squeezed his hand. “It’ll be all right,” she promised him – knowing she had no right to do so, but wanting to help him all the same.

“I hope so,” he muttered thoughtfully.

 

 

****

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Past midnight, after the storm cleared up, Richard checked on Tad Cooper. The dragon had grown a few more feet; it was long-winged and grumpy looking, having missed his evening lovings.

“There’s my boy. Tad, you don’t mind if I talk to you, do you? You see…your mother Roberta and I are rather at loose ends. I thought we were married, but it seems we weren’t, and now I’ve been forced to reckon with the consequences. “I only hope she knows how very much I adore her. If I can’t make this marriage work out, I have no idea what I’ll do. In fact, I think I need to sing about it…”

Richard then indeed did burst into tune; a loud one, and one so consuming and filled with his love for Roberta that his dragon inclined his heavy head for pettings. He was the best boy in the world, Richard thought, until he heard loud protesting coming from the neighboring stall.

“I can hear you singing to your dragon,” Sid sighed. “I’m rather sensitive to that, y’know. Madalena sings in her sleep sometimes. Drives Gareth to distraction.”

“Ahh, I see she’s still up to that old trick…wait a minute,” Richard raised an eyebrow and turned in Sid’s direction. His pallet was a mess of straw, and he looked exhausted. “Are they still bedding you down in their room? I offered you a chamber for a reason!” 

“It’s complicated, Richard,” said Sid.

“Well, I have the time. Explain, please,” he said.

“Things have…changed a bit since our journey from Valencia. We were alone together for a really long time and…one thing led to another. The only reason I’m out here is because Madalena wanted to be alone. Gareth’s sleeping in the great hall.”

“The three of you…?” Sid nodded. Richard could barely comprehend it, but pretended to understand. “And they were afraid that if I knew about it I wouldn’t give Madalena her favor when we agreed upon the proper borders for the kingdoms. Why in heaven’s name would she ever think she could hide such a thing?”

“It’s Mads,” said Sid. “She’s a smart woman but emotionally she’s a little bit dense.”

“A little bit harsh, don’t you think?” he remarked.

Sid shrugged. “It’s true. You can be a good person – deep down, under all of the torturing and attempted murder – and still be bad at getting people.”

“Well,” he said. “For your troubles – why don’t we sing this one out together?”

“And you won’t fight me for the chorus?” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Looping his arm around Richard’s neck, the two of them broke into song. Richard didn’t know which of Sid’s partners he was singing about, but for Richard there was only one face in the back of his mind, only one woman.

He and Sid sang the rest of the song together, and all the while he thought of flowing red hair.

 

 

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The following morning, Father Millstone had written up a contract for Richard and Madalena’s approval. She sat picking over it when Richard and Roberta surfaced from their chamber to eat breakfast together.

“I don’t think I agree to the fourth paragraph. I’d prefer to be called Your Highness. Forever.” The firmness in her voice made Richard sigh.

“Give her that, but strip her of any powers,” Roberta said.

“What right do you have to do that?” Madalena asked. “You don’t have any authority yet. I think I’m going to contest this divorce. My settlement should be more generous – and have more crowns.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Roberta complained.

“Bobbie, honey,” Richard said. “Would you be a dear and let me negotiate for the realm?”

Roberta glowered at Richard. “I’m going to let my husband handle this argument,” she said, and left the room.

“Bobbie!” he called. Richard was on her heels, immediately.

“Ex-lady queen,” said Father Millstone. “I think you should sign. In your best interests, naturally.”

“But what would be in it for me?” she wondered.

“Mads, you’re being ridiculous,” groused Gareth. “Why are you trying to keep the man in bondage? Let him get an ulcer doing kingly things.” He squeezed her shoulder. “You should be running free. Pillaging villages. Kicking butt. And you’re going to need people with you who’ll get your problems.”

She frowned. “Well. There are other routes to unlimited power. It just seems that the supernatural one failed me.” She looked at her hands. “Thank you for that,” she muttered.

That was what Gareth had been waiting for, but he didn’t say anything. “What are you really afraid of, Mads?”

“I’m afraid,” she admitted, “If I really do leave Richard, then I’ll let myself…feel things for you. And maybe Sid. As unlikely as that seems.”

“Thank you,” Sid said brightly.

“Maybe if you let yourself feel those things they’ll stop being scary,” said Gareth. “’Sides, since when are you afraid of taking a chance?”

She looked from Sid to Gareth. And frowned. There really wasn’t much of a choice to be made, in the end, between lonely isolation and…happiness.

“Give me that quill,” she said.

 

 

****

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Richard found Roberta moping with Tad in the pasture. “Darling! Don’t fret! We’ll win yet!”

She patted Tad; his enormous head was pressed to her knee, his big, thick scaly tail whacking the earth beneath her. “Not if Madalena doesn’t let you go.”

“Well, then, we’ll put her in the dungeon!”

“No more dungeons, Richard!” she said. “We have to lead by example, and we can’t be hanging and imprisoning every person who makes us upset.”

“You’re ever so wise,” he said. “Why do you put up with me?”

The feeling in her face was enough to make his heart beat faster. “Because I love you. Even if we could never be married, I’d stay with you. If Madalena says she won’t let you go I’ll…be very upset and probably have cross words with her.”

“Will there be punching?” he shivered.

“Maybe a little punching,” she agreed. “But I know where I belong, and it’s here in this palace. Tad Cooper needs me, this KINGDOM needs me, and I…I only need you, Richard.”

“Bobbie,” he said, almost swooning into her arms as she kissed his lips. “Bobbie, I adore you. I can’t imagine how my life might have turned out had you not stood up to join my quest.”

“Oh Richard…”

“Oh, Bobbie.”

“My king!” Father Millstone was shouting from eastern parapet. “She has agreed!”

 

 

****

**~~@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@~~**

 

 

Isabella said it was the oddest wedding she had ever attended. Galavant said it was a pleasant one, between bites of turkey leg – Roberta had put on the best feast she could, to feed the kings and queens coming to negotiate their portions and the guests for her impromptu wedding.

But oh, was it romantic. Sid said it was about the fourth most romantic kiss he had ever witnessed when Father Millstone pronounced Roberta and Richard man and wife. Gareth cuffed his ear, and Madalena made a gagging noise – but he noticed when she took his hand, and the length of their partner’s dance. When they swept him into the dance, it was even better.

After the wedding, Roberta and Richard headed out to visit Tad, but he wasn’t in his pen. 

“Tad?” gasped Richard, filled with fear. “Oh no!” 

A dinosaur-loud roar filled the air. They looked up – and there was their boy, on his maiden flight.

“Well,” Roberta said, tucking her hands to her waist as the dragon flew over their heads. There were tears in her eyes as she grabbed for Richard’s hand. 

“Well indeed,” said Richard, with great pride. “I have a DRAGON,” he said, his voice filled with wonder and delight.

“We have a dragon,” she corrected him. 

And – with their giant, cow-eating, high-flying dragon – they lived happily ever more.


End file.
